Classroom Management Strategies

In teaching young children at the elementary level, having well thought out classroom management strategies will help you out considerably, as well as to enhance the learning experience of the students themselves. It can be quite a daunting task on some days to make sure that your students don't get out of hand, but the following strategies will help you out immensely and make your classroom much more efficient:

1. Create Fair Classroom Rules and Punishment:

Classroom rules should be established at the start of the school year and be consistently enforced, in which every student is treated equally. However, the rules should be fair and not be too harsh or unrealistic. You don't want to create a toxic and negative environment in the classroom.

2. Be Positive:
Use language that is positive rather than negative. For example, a teacher should tell students to "Raise your hand before speaking," rather than "Don't speak unless you raise your hand." This will help students to focus on what you want them to do, rather than what you don't want them to do.

3. Create a Student-Centered Learning Structure:
You want your students to feel as if they are playing an important role in their own learning. Make sure to walk around the classroom and have students engage in classroom discussions together, rather than just providing instruction from the front of the classroom.

4. Be Aware of the Rate at Which Students Learn:

Some students learn faster than others. You should be aware of the individual tendencies of each student and make sure that you help those who are behind some of the other students, as well as to challenge the ones who learn fast. You don't want frustrated or bored students.

5. Talk With the Parents:
You should always make sure that you chat with the parents about their children. Have open and honest communication with them, which will help to create a feedback system in which they will work with you to help their child.

6. Provide Students with Encouragement:
Don't just let students know what they did wrong. Tell them what they did right and encourage them. That will build up their morale and make them want to listen to you even more.

7. Show Respect:
Believe it or not, it's important for a teacher to show respect to each student, while still retaining their authority status. You should treat them with dignity and try to avoid singling out any particular student in front of the class.

8. Cut Out Bad Behavior Before It Develops Further:
If a student is misbehaving in the middle of your lesson, walk over to the student and stand close to him or her. The student will most likely stop misbehaving. After class is over, speak to the student privately and express your displeasure with their behavior.

9. Come Prepared:
Your students will know if you're unprepared for the day's lesson or disorganized. Being organized will also help the students to stay organized.

10. A Fun Way to Assemble Ideas:
At the beginning of class, get a piece of paper and write the numbers one to ten in a list format. Then, give it to a random student and ask them to write something important from the last lesson on the first line. After they do, instruct them to pass it to the student on their left to fill in number two, then three, and so on. After a few, minutes call “Time!” and have the paper passed back to the original owner.

11. Get Written Feedback:
To be sure that information from your lesson has sunk in, ask your students to write a short summary in their own words of what the lesson was about near the end of each class.

12. Try Using a “Stuff Happens” Card:
On the first day of class, give every student a card (about the size of a business card) with their name on it. At the top of it will read “Stuff Happens”, and they can turn it in if they are late, or if they need a little more time on a paper, etc. They can only use it once, but let the kids know that if they never use it, the card can be traded in for 10 points on their final grade (or next test). You can download a FREE set of "Stuff Happens" cards by clicking HERE.

13. Handling the Overly-Participating Student:

This student is loved because they take the pressure off of their classmates by being ready to answer every question. They are also sometimes hated because they speak out so much! The best way to handle this is to talk to them in private about it. Let them know in a nice way that they are doing well, but to give their friends an opportunity to show what they have learned too.

14. A Cool Way to Get to Know Each Other:
Do a little research before the first day of class on the original meanings of the names of your students. Then, as they stand and introduce themselves, reveal to them what theirs means. One source you could use is this Name Meanings Website, but there are tons of other ones online and at the library.

Managing your classroom is about planning out and implementing various strategies.  I'd love to hear about some of the unique management strategies you use in your classroom!